DrakBibliophile wrote:To be fair to TOR, that was Robert Jordan's wife's doing.

She wanted a later release of the e-version and had the legal power to delay it.

I'll simply say that she doesn't have a CLUE about e-books, and how quickly a pirated version will be made available by someone scanning their dead tree version if the e-book isn't available for purchase.

I daresay she probably lost TOR tens of thousands of e-book sales to impatient readers.

It's not like she needed the money, but Brandon Sandersen deserved better. Somebody from TOR should have sat her down and explained the facts of modern life. Making e-book buyers wait four months longer than hardback buyers for a book isn't simply discrimination, it's incredibly shortsighted and stupid. It also ticked off a lot of Jordan fans.

"Oh bother", said Pooh as he glanced through the airlock window at the helmet he'd forgotten to wear.

Ain't that the truth. Takes me longer to read a book than to convert it to an ebook much longer. Of course I don't sell it or even give it away. But that isn't the point.

Sad when authors/publishers turn their fans into criminals.

Enjoy,T2M

McGuiness wrote:I'll simply say that she doesn't have a CLUE about e-books, and how quickly a pirated version will be made available by someone scanning their dead tree version if the e-book isn't available for purchase.

I daresay she probably lost TOR tens of thousands of e-book sales to impatient readers.

It's not like she needed the money, but Brandon Sandersen deserved better. Somebody from TOR should have sat her down and explained the facts of modern life. Making e-book buyers wait four months longer than hardback buyers for a book isn't simply discrimination, it's incredibly shortsighted and stupid. It also ticked off a lot of Jordan fans.

-----------------------Q: “How can something be worth more than it costs? Isn’t everything ‘worth’ what it costs?”A: “No. That’s just the price. ...Christopher Anvil from Top Line in "War Games"

thinkstoomuch wrote:Ain't that the truth. Takes me longer to read a book than to convert it to an ebook much longer. Of course I don't sell it or even give it away. But that isn't the point.

Sad when authors/publishers turn their fans into criminals.

Enjoy,T2M

McGuiness wrote:I'll simply say that she doesn't have a CLUE about e-books, and how quickly a pirated version will be made available by someone scanning their dead tree version if the e-book isn't available for purchase.

I daresay she probably lost TOR tens of thousands of e-book sales to impatient readers.

It's not like she needed the money, but Brandon Sandersen deserved better. Somebody from TOR should have sat her down and explained the facts of modern life. Making e-book buyers wait four months longer than hardback buyers for a book isn't simply discrimination, it's incredibly shortsighted and stupid. It also ticked off a lot of Jordan fans.

I would simply point out that I have met his wife (although I would never describe myself as a personal friend of Harriet or James), and that whatever else she may be, she is neither stupid nor greedy. She has been an editor for 30-plus years now and is one very smart lady. Whether this was the best decision from a marketing viewpoint or not is, of course, a matter of opinion, and it wasn’t the one I would have made. Nonetheless, she didn’t make it in a vacuum, and if you think that it was a foolish decision or a wrong decision, I would say that it also demonstrates the way that the attitudes of people who have spent decades of their professional life in this business see things differently — on the basis of that experience — from the way that e-book readers see things. I believe I’ve already mentioned that part of this is what you might call a “generational” difference of opinion. And I’d also say that I doubt very much that pirated copies of the book are costing Tor or Sanderson “tens of thousands” of sales. It undoubtedly has cost them quite a few sales, but I doubt it’s been in that range. I speak from the perspective of someone who’s had more than a few of his own books pirated.

I would simply point out that I have met his wife (although I would never describe myself as a personal friend of Harriet or James), and that whatever else she may be, she is neither stupid nor greedy. She has been an editor for 30-plus years now and is one very smart lady. Whether this was the best decision from a marketing viewpoint or not is, of course, a matter of opinion, and it wasn’t the one I would have made. Nonetheless, she didn’t make it in a vacuum, and if you think that it was a foolish decision or a wrong decision, I would say that it also demonstrates the way that the attitudes of people who have spent decades of their professional life in this business see things differently — on the basis of that experience — from the way that e-book readers see things. I believe I’ve already mentioned that part of this is what you might call a “generational” difference of opinion. And I’d also say that I doubt very much that pirated copies of the book are costing Tor or Sanderson “tens of thousands” of sales. It undoubtedly has cost them quite a few sales, but I doubt it’s been in that range. I speak from the perspective of someone who’s had more than a few of his own books pirated.[/quote]

I visited there forums a lot when the series was being written and this topic of e-books came up. Some one close to her reported her problem with the e-books is not the format, but that there sales were not reported and counted for the NYT best seller list

runsforcelery wrote:I would simply point out that I have met his wife (although I would never describe myself as a personal friend of Harriet or James), and that whatever else she may be, she is neither stupid nor greedy. She has been an editor for 30-plus years now and is one very smart lady. Whether this was the best decision from a marketing viewpoint or not is, of course, a matter of opinion, and it wasn’t the one I would have made. Nonetheless, she didn’t make it in a vacuum, and if you think that it was a foolish decision or a wrong decision, I would say that it also demonstrates the way that the attitudes of people who have spent decades of their professional life in this business see things differently — on the basis of that experience — from the way that e-book readers see things. I believe I’ve already mentioned that part of this is what you might call a “generational” difference of opinion. And I’d also say that I doubt very much that pirated copies of the book are costing Tor or Sanderson “tens of thousands” of sales. It undoubtedly has cost them quite a few sales, but I doubt it’s been in that range. I speak from the perspective of someone who’s had more than a few of his own books pirated.

I visited their forums a lot when the series was being written and this topic of e-books came up. Some one close to her reported her problem with the e-books is not the format, but that there sales were not reported and counted for the NYT best seller list

Sorry that I came across as being extremely harsh against Jordan's wife. I'm well aware of the huge contribution she made throughout the series, especially in compiling all the required information and the plots for the final three novels once they realized how ill Robert actually was, then working tirelessly with Brandon Sandersen to finish the series. Her contribution simply cannot be overstated, and we all owe her a debt of gratitude that the series was finished.

That said - if indeed her decision to delay the e-book release was motivated to drive the final book of the series higher on the ranks of the New York Times bestseller list, that decision was an act of pride. Pride in her husband for the stunning, intricate world he created, pride in herself for helping to bring that world and its plot to a triumphant and extremely satisfying conclusion (if I may say so myself,) and pride in Brandon Sandersen for stepping in and fulfilling her husband's vision.

We'll never know how many sales were lost to piracy, since after all, this was the last book of a series that many readers had dedicated two decades to reading. (I was one of them.) The odds that e-book readers weren't going to read it out of spite were nil. Of course their patience most certainly wasn't infinite - I borrowed the hardcover from my local library for instance, which meant a lost sale, as I normally read nothing but e-books since they're much easier for me to read, plus they're searchable.

So whatever her reason, from the perspective of e-book buyers, it was the wrong one. From a monetary perspective for the Jordan's estate, it did little damage, but I'm sure Brandon Sandersen would have appreciated the royalties that were lost while the hardback was available, but the e-book wasn't.

I didn't have my daughter ask him about that when he spoke at her school, but I did have her ask whether Rand was mortal now, would live as long as an Aes Sedai, or was basically immortal. (Not one of the 3 unanswerable questions as laid down by Robert Jordan.)

He dodged the question...

"Oh bother", said Pooh as he glanced through the airlock window at the helmet he'd forgotten to wear.

saber964 wrote:The oldest book in my collection is "Reach for the Sky" printed 1964. The story is a biography of Wing Commander Sir Douglas Bader RAF(ret). What is unusall about Bader is that he lost his legs in an airplane crash in 1931. He later flew Hurricaines and Spitfires in the BoB with 22 confermed victories. Shotdown in 41, POW eventually wound up at Koldetz prison.

I'd have to check the dates, but my 2 oldest are Robert's Rules of Order and Men of Iron. Both belonged to great-grandfathers.

saber964 wrote:The oldest book in my collection is "Reach for the Sky" printed 1964. The story is a biography of Wing Commander Sir Douglas Bader RAF(ret). What is unusall about Bader is that he lost his legs in an airplane crash in 1931. He later flew Hurricaines and Spitfires in the BoB with 22 confermed victories. Shotdown in 41, POW eventually wound up at Koldetz prison.

I'd have to check the dates, but my 2 oldest are Robert's Rules of Order and Men of Iron. Both belonged to great-grandfathers.

..//* *\\(/(..^..)\).._/'*'\_.(,,,)^(,,,)

Love is a condition in which the happiness of anotheris essential to your own. - R Heinlein

DrakBibliophile wrote:To be fair to TOR, that was Robert Jordan's wife's doing.

She wanted a later release of the e-version and had the legal power to delay it.

To be fair to TOR, they don't seem to have much of a clue either even if they got a bit better (dropped DRM). For previous from last Safehold book, I had no legal option for buying the e-book in my country, no online seller would allow download of the english version in France.

I could import the hardback, but not the e-book. And it was really easy to find the epub one even searching only a legal version. I ended buying from Baen the bazhel serie to compensate the Mad Wizard. MTT was bought while being in England.